


sad, beautiful, tragic.

by currahees



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Happy Ending, I promise, M/M, eventually, just a bit of angst along the way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 18:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18722329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/currahees/pseuds/currahees
Summary: "we had a beautiful magic love there."ORthe one in which george and joe find their way back to each other.





	sad, beautiful, tragic.

_“long handwritten note,  
deep in your pocket.”_

George couldn’t help himself. He pulled out the note out of his pocket again, his eyes skimming across the handwritten words on the crumpled piece of paper.

“Luz, you still looking at that thing?” Frank asks, walking behind George and gently hitting the back of his head.

“Shut it, Perconte,” George mumbles, shoving the letter back into his pocket. He already knew what it said word for word but something about rereading it made him feel safe. The way Joe’s handwriting was messy and slanted but also familiar to him, it made his heart ache for him.

The last letter he had gotten from Joe was three weeks ago. Their relationship took a turn when Joe announced that he was being shipped out. George knew this was coming, Joe had been in the army for just under a year and they both expected it. But actually acknowledging it was difficult. The long distance was rough, the constantly worrying about whether Joe had done something stupid and got himself hurt was tearing George apart. He didn’t know how much longer he could go on worrying like this.

//

Half way across the world, Joe felt the same. George sent letters more frequently than he did, having more time to write them. Although they FaceTimed and texted whenever they could, there was something about handwritten letters that felt more personal. Joe had his favourite letter folded and hidden in the pocket that rested above his heart. It was his way of keeping George close, despite the thousands of miles that sat between them.

Joe knows that it’s been weeks, too many weeks, since he sent the last letter. Their calls had been sporadic at best and texts almost non existent. Both of them felt the same thing deep down, but neither wanted to admit it. Hell, of course Joe still loved George. He loved him with every fibre of his being. But it was torture being away from him. He wanted nothing more to be at home in their bed, falling asleep with George in his arms. But he was here instead, impossibly alone.

* * *

_“distance, timing, breakdown, fighting.”_

It was officially four months since Joe left. And George was at his breaking point. He didn’t want to be the one to end it, or suggest they take a break, but he was a wreck. Every time the phone rang his heart dropped to his stomach assuming the worst and their calls were short, emotionless, both of them scared to bring up anything that was real. This wasn’t them.

A few of the boys were hanging at George’s and Frank’s flat, cheap beer and pizza split between them all.

“When’s Joe coming back, Luz?” Lipton asks, pulling George from his silence.

He hesitates before answering. “Um, a month but he says he might extend his time out there,” he mumbles.

Lipton raises an eyebrow, sharing a quick look with Ron that George almost missed. “Why’s he extending?” He asks, carefully approaching this topic. He knew it had been rough for George, he could see it affecting his friend.

“I don’t know. Says he feels like he has a purpose or some bullshit. Apparently I’m not enough,” George shrugs, ignoring the awkward looks from everyone as he downs the rest of his beer. What he doesn't mention is the increased fighting, the never agreeing on anything and the regret that fills him every time they end a call on bad terms or with rushed apologies.

The rest of the night goes on fairly well, it isn’t until the end of the night when Lipton pulls George aside that he wishes he hadn’t said anything.

“Listen, Lip, before you start the whole Mother talk with me just know I’m fine, okay? Don’t need no sympathy,” George says, avoiding eye contact.

Lipton sighs. “I’m not here to give you the Mother talk. I know where you’re at Luz, Ron’s a military man too. He’s gone for months at a go sometimes and it gets hard. No one else understands what you’re going through and you feel alone. But your’re not alone, I’m here if you need to talk. Okay?”

That wasn’t what George was expecting, so he just nods his head and accepts the hug from Lipton before both him and Ron leave.

That night George texts Joe, asking him how he’s been. The replies are short and quick and George feels the not so kind pang of his heart. They used to be so good, what happened?

//

Joe knows exactly what he’s doing and he hates himself for it. Instead of trying to repair their crumbling relationship, he’s trying to protect himself from the inevitable fallout. Maybe if he let George down easy, they’d both be okay. George could stop worrying about him and move on with his life, he wouldn’t waste time texting him or calling him, Joe wouldn’t be an inconvenience to him anymore.

A few weeks pass with limited contact and Joe’s trying to wait to bring it up but he can’t. It’s on the tip of his tongue and he can’t help it when the words come tumbling out over their very awkward call.

“I’ve extended my tour, Luz. I’m here another six months.”

Joe swears he’s never seen George look more broken in his life. The smile that’s usually permanently etched into his face fades into nothing, the spark in his eyes vanishes and his whole body slumps forward. George is saying something but Joe can’t make out what it is, he’s overwhelmed and his head is spinning. He knows this is the moment he’ll remember, the look on Luz’s face when he finally broke his heart. And God, Joe hated himself for it. But he kept telling himself this was what’s best for both of them. He was only looking out for George. But he also knows deep, deep down that this would be the moment he regretted for months to come.

* * *

_“and you’ve got your demons.”_

It hasn’t been easy for George, to say the least. He hadn’t spoken to Joe in almost four months, the last time they talked was when Joe told him he was extending his tour. Neither of them tried to make much effort after that, but George still felt like a part of his life was missing. The bed was half empty as it always had been, but something felt different now. More personal, more real, Joe was never going to share a bed with George again. George tried not to think about it too much, every time it did it felt like a punch to the gut. And he was in too much pain from the breakup (if you could call it that) to acknowledge the harsh truths.

It’s a random Tuesday morning, George is making breakfast for himself before work when he gets a call. His toast falls to the floor, his coffee sits forgotten but all he can think about is finding his damn car keys and rushing out of the house.

He vaguely remember calling both Carwood and Ron on the drive out there. He calls Carwood for the support, Ron for the directions. Joe was back in America. He was home but for all the wrong reasons. Something happened, he got hit while he was trying to help one of his comrades and he was injured. Bad. They had him at a military hospital a few hours from where they lived and George was listed as his emergency contact, hence the reason he was speeding down the road to get there as quickly as he could.

Arriving at the hospital, he quickly navigates his way through the winding halls and to the Intensive Care Unit. However, that’s as far as he gets.

“Sir, I’m afraid only family is allowed past this point,” the Nurse tries to explain to him but George isn’t let the words sink in. Joe is here, less than 100 feet from where he stood and he was broken and injured and George  _needed to see him._

“You don’t understand,” George starts again, trying to convince the Nurse to let him through. But he’s cut off by a much deeper voice from behind him.

“He’s with me,” Ron says, his ID tag (and scowl) letting the woman know that Ron was not someone to be messed with. She sighs and nods, pointing them to Joe’s room.

George spins, stopping in his tracks. “Ron, what the hell-.”

“I was driving here when you called, they need me on base today and I knew you’d have some problems getting in to see him. Don’t worry about it, if anyone gives you grief come find me,” he explains, nodding solemnly to Joe’s room. “Go, he’ll need you now more than he wants to admit.”

And with that, George’s practically sprinting down the hall until he’s outside Joe’s room. After a deep breath, he opens the door and braces himself for what he’s about to walk into.

Joe’s got all these wires coming out of him, there’s cuts and bruises scattered across his face and a few stitches above his eye. But he’s breathing, he’s okay. George is calm for a second until his eyes travel down to his lower half. The space where his lower leg is meant to be is empty and the blanket falls flat.

“You gonna stand there all day staring?” Joe’s voice cuts through him, bringing him back to reality. George sits down on the chair next to his bed, not sure what to say.

“How you feeling?” Is what he decides on, regretting it as soon as the words slip out.

“Just fuckin’ dandy, thanks for asking, Luz,” Joe replies, rolling his eyes. Then his face softens and he looks at George the way he used to when it was just the two of them and George’s heart hurts again. “I’m sorry. What are you doing here?” He asks, his voice much lighter.

“They called me this morning, I’m still your emergency contact,” George says.

“Shit, Luz. That’s a long ass drive from home to here,” Joe comments.

George shrugs, “Wasn’t too bad, I missed most of rush hour traffic.”

Silence falls between them and George wants to reach out and takes Joe’s hand in his, but he doesn’t. They’re not together anymore, Joe made that clear last time they spoke. Instead he settles on small talk, both of them ignoring the elephant in the room for the time being.

Two weeks pass and Joe is discharged from the hospital. He’s got a new prosthetic, plus weekly therapy appointments as well as physical therapy but despite all that, Joe just looks relieved to be out of the hospital. George has been there every step of the way, but neither of them had mentioned their past relationship or where they’d go from here.

Walking out of the hospital and to George’s car together, they’re silent as Joe winces with every step. The prosthetic was uncomfortable and took a lot of energy to use at first. Sitting in the passenger side of George’s car, George attempts to clear the air.

“So, where to? Bill’s? Although I don’t recommend him, him and Frannie just moved in together so that’s a lot to handle. I’d suggest Ron and Carwood’s but Ron still scares me so not them-.”

Joe cuts him off. “George?”

“Yeah, Joe?”

“Just take me home.”

“Hell of an idea, Joe.” George smirks, driving out of the car park. They still needed to talk but for now this would do.

//

Joe felt like absolute shit. His head was all over the place and he and George  _still_ hadn’t talked. He was sick of the walking on eggshells around each other and the silence, which led to where they were at the moment. Arguing over breakfast.

“For the love of God, Joe don’t you see? I’m not here because I have sympathy for you or because I think you’re a charity case! I’m here because I lo-.” George stops himself mid word, realising what he was about to admit to.

“Because you what, George?” Joe asks, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Because I love you, fuck it! I never stopped loving you Joe. Not when we stopped talking, not when we broke up, I’ve always loved you!” George explodes, slamming a fist on the table. “And what hurts the most is knowing you don’t love me back,” he adds quietly.

Joe almost falls out of his chair. “You really think I don’t love you?”

“When have you ever said it? You told me you wanted to stay over there “because it gave you a purpose” as if I wasn’t enough. You stopped making effort, stopped trying to talk to me, would rather be in a fuckin’ war zone then with me!” George yells, angry tears threatening to spill.

Joe shakes his head. “George, you’ve got it all wrong. I stayed because it was the only thing I thought I was good at. It did give me a purpose, but hell so did you. Every single day I woke up over there you were the first thing on my mind and the only person I wanted to see. I could tell that me being over there was killing you and I wasn’t about to put you through hell for me, so I ended it before it got worse. I’d walk through a war zone a hundred times over for you, Georgie.” Joe’s shaking now, trying to control his breathing.

“Then why didn’t you talk to me? You know I’d go through hell for you. It was difficult, fuck it was difficult doing the whole long distance shit, but I’d do that again and again if it meant you were still mine.” George mumbles. He stopped trying to hold his tears in, a few had escaped and were running down his cheeks.

“I was scared. And stupid. And I’ve regretted that moment every day since I ended things with us. You know when I was lying there, half delirious with pain, you were the reason I didn’t give up. The chance to see your face again was all I needed to pull me through,” Joe sighs. “I’m sorry. Fuck, George, I’m so sorry.”

And that’s exactly when both men broke. The walls they had up for so long came crashing down and they could do nothing but hold each other as they sobbed for past mistakes, lost time and regrets.

* * *

_“cause we **have**  a beautiful magic love."_

“George, I swear I’ll push you off this couch if you don’t shut up,” Joe mumbles, glaring down at his boyfriend in his lap.

“But this is the best bit! I have to quote it!” George defends himself, grinning at Joe.

Joe rolls his eyes, but finds himself smirking as George quotes the film scene word for word. He drops one of his hands into George’s hair, running his fingers through the softness of it.

“Hey, George?” Joe asks, once again catching his attention.

“Yeah, Joe?” George replies.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Joe,” George responds in an instance. He moves and captures Joe’s lips with his own, the film being forgotten for a while.

It took them months to get where they were now, happy and content. Joe still had his bad days but George was always there to support him through it. After the initial wariness around their relationship, they jumped back into a routine without looking back. Joe needed George and George needed Joe, it was as simple as that.  _A sad, but beautiful love there._

**Author's Note:**

> Not a representation of the real men, this work is based off the portrayals in the HBO mini series. No disrespect intended towards the real war veterans.  
> Not edited.


End file.
